chrispatrick wrote:Paxson43 wrote:The majority of fans upset with / disliking a 22 year old kid that shot 38.7% from three last season are letting their Jimmy Butler emotions tie into the acquisition.
Keep in mind, Thibs didn't want to part with this kid last season, and the only reason we got him this season was because we threw in the 16th pick and he's coming off an ACL surgery. Since when, in this era, has ACL injuries ruined careers of 21, 22 year olds? This isn't someone that solely relies on his explosion/athleticism like Derrick Rose
You don't get a lot of 22 year olds that win dunk contests and potentially could have won a 3PT contest the same season. He's an upper echelon athlete in terms of his quickness and explosion, and he is a much better shooter than his reputation lends.
I think it's more of a clash between those who follow advanced stats or those who don't care for them. This post isn't intended to argue which group of posters is better or smarter (advanced stats tell some but not all of the story), more just explaining the thought process behind the guys who don't like LaVine are generally guys that like Butler.
I'm one who doesn't view LaVine as an asset because I see little chance that he could eclipse the value of his next contract (not a knock on LaVine specifically, but generally that's something that only all-stars and rookies do as NBA economics wildly underpay stars/rookies and shovel the cash that should be going to those guys to guys like LaVine), i do think he has a good chance to recover just fine from his injury.
With this new era of exploding NBA contracts, I don't think anyone really have a solid grasp on what a player truly deserves. I mean $200 million dollars for some of these dudes? It's asinine.
Gordon Hayward just got $32 million a year, and his career PER is 3.1 higher than what LaVine got last season. It's never going to match-up, so it boils down to how well they fit what you're trying to do and, IMO, their work ethic.